Funds available to help restore, protect rangeland

    Through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, Nebraska producers have funding opportunities to help address the spread of invasive woody vegetation on rangeland.
    Landowners interested should apply at their local NRCS office by Feb. 17.
     With funding through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, farmers can adopt management practices that help treat the spread of Eastern redcedar trees and other invasive woody vegetation on rangeland.
     NRCS is targeting funding to address this natural resource concern through its Nebraska Great Plains Grassland Initiative. The initiative is part of the NRCS Working Lands for Wildlife framework to conserve grassland regions in the Great Plains.
     Management practices eligible for financial assistance  include brush management, prescribed grazing, grazing deferment, prescribed burning and more.
    NRCS is focusing this funding on farms and ranches in the Sandhills, Loess Canyons, southwest mixed-grass prairies, and Verdigris-Bazile creek watershed.
    Chase County is among those eligible for funding.
    According to NRCS staff, removing Eastern redcedar at lower densities before they take over the rangeland is more cost-effective for the producer, conserves and restores forage production, reduces wildfire risk and protects wildlife habitat.
     Jeff Nichols, state rangeland management specialist for NRCS Nebraska, said, “Nearly 8 million acres of Nebraska’s most intact grasslands are estimated to be at risk to future woody encroachment. This is bad news for the ranchers. In 2019 more than 419,000 tons of range production was lost in Nebraska to woody encroachment,” he said.
    Woody plant encroachment puts pressure on working rangelands by decreasing livestock production and increasing wildfire risk, as well as harming grasslands and the animals living there.
    For more information, call the NRCS field office or visit www.ne.nrcs.usda.gov.